“Impatient Liberals and Abortion Moguls:” FRC Weighs in on HHS Rule and Lawsuits

And….the Family Research Council weighs in on the HHS rule and the lawsuits seeking an injunction from having them go into effect. The statement speaks for itself.

January 20 may be recognized as the date of Barack Obama’s swearing-in, but American health care workers will be celebrating it as a landmark for workplace rights. In what pro-lifers will see as a sweet irony, the nation’s most pro-abortion president will take office on Tuesday, the same date that his predecessor’s conscience protections kick in.

The rules, which the Bush administration released last month, deny federal funding for federally funded entities that force their staff to take part in morally objectionable practices like abortion. As part of the regulations, each medical facility must promise–in writing–to abide by these conditions. FRC had lobbied HHS for this change for years, arguing that health care workers shouldn’t have to choose between their personal beliefs and their jobs. Most liberals disagreed, saying that a woman’s "right" to kill her unborn child should trump any moral objections by clinic staffers.

Yesterday, as expected, a tiny fraction of state attorneys general took the Bush administration to federal court over its decision. Seven states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island) were represented in the suit to stop the regulations, as were Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. Although the rules would give health care workers more freedom, this suit proves that abortion moguls only respect the "choice" of people who pad their bottom line. Rather than wait on the Obama Administration to reverse the rules, which could take up to six months, these impatient liberals are relying on the old strategy of fast-tracking their agenda through the courts. According to a poll by HCD Research, the regulations are also supported by physicians. When asked, only 33 percent of 1,736 doctors opposed the new conscience protections.